The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition NX Modding Guide

Brought to you by members of the Skyrim NX Modding Hub

You must already have a hacked switch.

This guide is for use with a modded Nintendo Switch console, and will not go through how to mod one, there are already guides for that.

This guide assumes you're running a Skyrim version 1.1.143.3229919 or higher.

You can check which version you are running by pressing + when highlighting Skyrim on you Switch HOME menu.
If for some reason you're on an older version and would prefer to stay there, this guide isn't for you. The Skyrim NX Toolkit Wiki has you covered. (Don't forget to use the Plugin Bypass Patch!)

If you've upgraded your game and your mods no longer work,

Remove everything from SD:atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs except your Data folder and place each mod in their own folder (both ESP and BSA files) and continue with this guide. Don't forget to remove your plugin bypass patch if you're upgrading from Special Edition to Anniversary Edition!



Prerequisites

  • Download Lockpick_RCM by shchmue from here.
    • Place Lockpick_RCM.bin into SD:bootloader/payloads folder.
  • Download NXDumpTool by DarkMatterCore from here.
    • Place nxdumptool.nro into SD:switch

You can ignore NXDumpTool if your Switch's firmware is 17.0.0 or higher.

  • Download Skyrim NX Toolkit by Lord Akkrand from here and grab BSA_Merge.bat made by Shiro in the Discord.
    • Extract Skyrim NX Toolkit and BSA_Merge.bat into a new empty folder, it's name or location don't matter.
  • Official Releases of the Skyrim NX Toolkit require the following:

If you're getting an MSVCP120.dll error using the Toolkit

You'll need to (re)install this too.


Key Extraction

  • Tap the big Payloads button on the Hekate Home screen and select Lockpick_RCM.bin.
If you use your Custom Firmware on the SysNAND. If you use your Custom Firmware on the EmuNAND.
Just tap the power button. Use the volume buttons to navigate to Dump from EmuNAND and tap the power button.
  • Use the VOL- or VOL+ buttons to navigate to power off and tap the power button.

Your keys are now extracted to your console and you can now boot your console as normal.


Some steps from here on out are specific to what version of Skyrim Anniversary Edition you're using.

After the Anniversary Update you are either left with a bought Anniversary Upgrade or a free updated Base Game.

They will be referred to as Anniversary Upgrade and Base Game accordingly.


Game File Extraction

As of firmware 17.0.0 NXDumpTool seems to be faulty, so feel free to ignore the rest of this section.

The files you need can be found here. Place them under atmosphere/contents on the Switch's SD card.

  1. Power your Nintendo Switch on and launch the NXDumpTool homebrew in extended memory mode (by holding R while launching a game.)
  2. Press A on Dump installed SD card / eMMC content.
  3. Use the D-Pad to navigate to your game, and press A to select it.
  4. Press A on RomFS Options.
  5. Set Save data to CFW directory (LayeredFS) to Yes.
  6. Scroll down to Use update/DLC and select the option with (UPD) in the title.
  7. Select Browse RomFS section.
  8. Press A on skyrim.ini and then press B. Press A on skyrim_en.ini (depending on your game language, the ' _en ' suffix of your second ini may vary) and then press B.
Anniversary Upgrade Base Game
9. Scroll down to Use update/DLC and select the option with (DLC) in the title. 9. Scroll down to Use update/DLC and select the option with (UPD) in the title.
10. Select Browse RomFS section. 10. Select Browse RomFS section.
11. Press A on Skyrim_aoc.ccc. 11. Press A on the Data folder, and once again on Skyrim.ccc.

Congratulations on extracting your files, you're almost ready to go!

Modding Directories

Access your SD Card files:

  • Connect your Switch to your computer using a USB cable:
    1. Reboot into Hekate.
    2. Select Tools at the top of the screen and tap USB Tools
    3. Tap SD Card and connect your Nintendo switch to your computer.
  • OR
    • Use FTPD (eliminates the need for rebooting) - authors recommend
      • You will also need an FTP program for your PC to access your Nintendo Switch MicroSD card over your Wi-Fi.
  • OR
    • Put the SD Card in your PC (ONLY WHEN YOUR SWITCH IS POWERED OFF).

This is not recommended as the MicroSD card port on the Nintendo Switch is very delicate and is more likely to break the more you eject and re-insert the MicroSD card.

The following directories contain your dumped files:

Anniversary Upgrade Base Game
SD:atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs SD:atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EB009/romfs SD:atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs SD:atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Data

Downloading and Installing Mods

  • You can find mods to download at the Skyrim Switch Nexus
    (requires a free account you can sign up for)
  • Once a mod is downloaded, you'll want to extract it to it's own folder.

Skyrim BSA Files.

Skyrim will only read BSA files with the same name as their ESP counterparts or BSA files with the same name and a ' - Textures' suffix. They are case sensitive and need to match 1:1 Spaces are allowed and welcome! e.g. very cool mod.bsa/very cool mod.esp

If you have a mod with an ESP file, then it needs the BSA files to match the same name (minus the .ESP file extension, it should still remain .BSA).

For example, if you have Mod.ESP and Mod.BSA then you're good to go.
If you have Mod.ESP and Mod.BSA and Mod - Textures.BSA then you're also good to go.
If your BSA names differ from the ESP name or the ESP name with - Textures added to it, then you need to follow the next steps. Otherwise, scroll down to the .ccc File Editing part of this guide.

It's worth noting that ESP files should not be renamed unless you're using a blank ESP file (shown below).

This is because renaming ESP files can mess with facegen and make many characters in Skyrim have different coloured heads that don't connect properly to their bodies.

My BSA files don't match the ESP!

  1. Create a folder in which you'll store your mod files inside the toolkit directory that you set up at the start of this guide.
  2. Place your .BSA files into your newly created folder.
  3. Drag the folder to UNPACK_MOD.BAT.
  4. You'll now have a folder called [mod]_Unpacked
    4a. It's now safe to delete the [mod] folder.
  5. Rename that folder to the same name as your mod's .ESP file without the .esp extension in the name.
  6. Drag your new folder to BSA_Merge.bat and wait for the process to finish
  7. Now reunite your newly created BSA file from the MERGED_BSAs folder of your toolkit directory with the .ESP file of the same name.
  8. If done correctly, you should now have a file called (NameOfMod).ESP and another called (NameOfMod).BSA. You can now delete the original .BSA/loose files.

My mod doesn't have an ESP!

Don't worry, this is actually a good thing.

  1. Download a "dummy" .ESP
  2. Rename the emptyESP.esp you downloaded accordingly, so it matches the .BSA.
  3. That's it! Continue with the guide.

Can't I just edit my .ini files like old times?

While you can still edit your ini files and install mods this way, things in the .ini files load before your CCC file where you'll now be installing your mods. So creating a consistent load order will be extremely difficult.

!! It is also worth nothing that some mods such as the newer version of USSEP, alternate start mods (Unbound, Live Another Life etc.) or any other that don't seem to work properly, may need you to paste their .bsa into skyrim.ini files.

If you are new and not aware of how to do this, refer to the Configuring your .INIs section of the official wiki. Since we already merged our mod into a single .bsa file, your only concern are sResourceArchiveList= in skyrim.ini and sResourceArchiveList2= in skyrim_en.ini.

.ccc File Editing

Now that you have your mod all set up, it's time to install it.

Anniversary Upgrade Base Game
1. Open your skyrim_aoc.ccc file with notepad. 1. Open your skyrim.ccc file with notepad.
This can be found in SD:atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EB009/romfs This can be found in SD:atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Data
  1. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the file.
  2. Type your mod .ESP file name on a new line (including .esp).

    Example. I might type SuperAwesomeMod.esp on that new line.

  3. Save the file and close notepad.
  4. Now drag your mod .ESP and .BSA file to SD:atmosphere/contents/01000A10041EA000/romfs/Data.

    Example. My files would be called SuperAwesomeMod.esp and SuperAwesomeMod.bsa.

You've just installed your first mod! It will take effect immediately when you launch the game, unless you hold L while launching it, in which case all mods are disabled.


I want to convert a PC mod to Skyrim Nintendo Switch

PC mod compatibility.

Skyrim on the Nintendo Switch doesn't support SKSE so anything that requires SKSE cannot be used on the Nintendo Switch. If SKSE is optional, then it usually can, but dependencies do matter.

  1. Download the PC mod you want for Skyrim Special Edition.
  2. Extract it to it's own folder so all of the .ESP, .BSA and/or subfolders are there.
  3. Place that folder into the toolkit folder you made earlier, rename the mod folder to the same name as your mod's .ESP file, without the .esp extension in the name.

    That way any .BSA files inside will be renamed accordingly after converting.

  4. Drag the folder to CONVERT_MOD.BAT and wait for it to finish.

    This process can take a long time depending on how many files are in the mod you're trying to convert.

  5. You'll have the finished result in a new folder called mod_Unpacked_Converted

    If you end up with multiple .BSA files that aren't MOD.BSA and/or MOD - TEXTURES.BSA, follow the My BSA files don't match the ESP! section above, in order to merge everything into a single MOD.BSA.


Skyrim.ini tweaks and extra stuff

ini tweaking DIY

Skyrim.ini served as a crucial file in the past and while the .ccc files made it redundant, it still has a lot of graphics and gameplay oriented uses. It basically serves as a game setting repository.

PC Skyrim has two files that govern these settings: skyrim.ini and skyrimprefs.ini, the latter one isn’t present on the Switch but that’s not an issue. 99% of the tweaks work when put into skyrim.ini.

  • For starters: use the STEP INI TWEAKS guide and BethINI (download BethINI Standalone)

    • Download SkyrimNX.ini - a cross-reference file that includes all possible ini tweaks on the Switch version; provided by Zappastuff.

Using BethINI to your advantage

  1. Run BethINI.exe
  2. Check Recommended tweaks
  3. Choose medium or high preset. Start with medium and choose high values only for the things you find most jarring in-game
  4. Scroll through the categories and hover over individual settings to find out the exact ini lines

General process for adding custom INI lines yourself

  1. Identify the setting you’d like to change, from STEP, BethINI or any other source
  2. Check if the setting would work on the Switch, by searching for the line in the SkyrimNX.ini (semi-skippable step, it most likely will)
  3. Add the line under the proper category, if it’s not there by default, write it down by hand

Before adding any new lines to your skyrim.ini, make sure they're not already there!

This is a collection of both high impact and novelty tweaks worth mentioning. We highly recommend you build your own set of custom INI tweaks with use of BethINI and STEP, in addition to these.

[LOD]
fLODFadeOutMultActors=12
fLODFadeOutMultItems=4.5
fLODFadeOutMultObjects=15
fDistanceMultiplier=1.0

ESSENTIAL - gets rid of most visible texture pop-in.

[Controls]
fControllerBufferDepth=0.01
bDampenPlayerControls=0

These two remove any sort of 3rd person delay or input lag, ESSENTIAL for 3rd person play.

[Display]
fDefaultFOV=90
fDefault1stPersonFOV=90
fDefaultWorldFOV=90

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED, NEEDS A NEW PLAYTHROUGH
Switch's default is 65. Narrow. Jarring. Outright claustrophobic.
These bad boys let you crank the Field of View up to 100. The options are menu FOV, viewmodel FOV (hands, weapon) and main FOV (the one you're probably looking for) respectively. You can experiment with different numbers but we found that keeping them equal scales everything nicely. This may affect the performance slightly.

[Display]
fLightLODRange=14000

This one is great, makes the lights visible at night from great distances, the value can be ramped up to 20000 and the performance hit is basically nothing.

[Interface]
fBookOpenTime=200.0

Books open FAST. A cosmetic but extremely useful tweak.

[Display]
bTreesReceiveShadows=0

Removes shadows on trees, you’ll barely notice what it does, but it increases performance.

[Trees]
fUpdateBudget=0

Removes tree animations, barely noticable unless you're staring directly at them for some time. Helps lower the load on your Switch, increasing performance.

[Controls]
fDialogueSoftStopAngle1P = 180.0
fDialogueHardStopAngle1P = 180.0
fDialogueSoftStopAngle3P = 180.0
fDialogueHardStopAngle3P = 180.0

These let you move your camera more freely during dialogue, angles can be tweaked even higher, stay under 360.

[Camera]
fMouseWheelZoomSpeed=10

Makes 3rd person transitions almost instant.

[Camera]
fOverShoulderPosZ=18.0
fOverShoulderPosX=0.0
fOverShoulderCombatAddY=0.0
fOverShoulderCombatPosZ=24.0
fOverShoulderCombatPosX=0.0
fOverShoulderHorseAddY=-72.0
fOverShoulderHorsePosZ=50.0
fOverShoulderHorsePosX=35.0

These tweak the 3rd person camera to a more gameplay-oriented position.

Useful Toolkit tweaks

As stated in the Skyrim NX Toolkit Wiki FAQ:

Speeding up the conversion process

  • "Inside the root of your toolkit you will find settings.ini, you can open this and change the thread count to speed the process up.
    1 thread=how many files are being converted at once. Be careful with setting high thread counts, it can cause issues!"
  • "You can also turn on multiprocessing by setting multiprocessing = False to multiprocessing = True. If you don't have a powerful processor or if you use a Virtual Machine, I'd keep this option off."

Changing the texture quality

  • "The toolkit will resize your textures based on what you specify. Open settings.ini and change defaultsizelimit to:
    1048576 for 1K (default),
    4194304 for 2K and
    262144 for 512."
    Use 2k only for small impact / interior / interface mods!

HUGE THANKS

Jarl Robot, Zappastuff and Jarl Akkrand for the Skyrim NX Toolkit, without their hard work none of this would be possible.

The Skyrim Modding Community for their amazing mods that have kept this game alive since 2011.

Nyles for writing up a quick and easy-to-follow guide on modding in the latest update at the Skyrim NX Modding Hub Discord and for streamlining this guide with me.

Shiro for creating the BSA_Merge.bat file, simplifying mod installation on the Nintendo Switch, also found at the Skyrim NX Modding Hub Discord.

VonRosa for helping me understand the drastic change of how mods are installed in the latest update, also found at the Skyrim NX Modding Hub Discord.

Doodlez for all of their awesome help when it came to the updated version of skyrim pre-AE I will get that 25GBP eshop card to you on the 16th. I won't let you down this time.

ME ItzEMEK (M'aiq The Capper on the NX Modding Hub) for writing up the guide.

Join the Skyrim NX Modding Hub Discord!

Most of what's possible when modding Skyrim on the switch wouldn't be possible without the Skyrim NX Toolkit, and we're extremely thankful for that. Skyrim NX Toolkit

For a list of incompatible mods, click here. (unfinished)

Edit
Pub: 15 Nov 2022 11:34 UTC
Edit: 11 Dec 2023 20:02 UTC
Views: 7795